eBooks - Death of the Printing Press?

In light of Google's unveiling of it's own online eBook store, to take on industry heavyweights Amazon and Apple, are we starting to see the beginning of the end of traditional publishing? Will our morning newspaper be delivered wirelessly every morning to our tablet or smartphone instead of having the paper boy? Will we be asking authors to 'digitally sign' our copy of their book? Will youngsters whip out their iPhone 7 to read the latest edition of Superman, instead of wondering if the newsagent has got the edition in yet?

Or, is it just smoke in the water, and both can continue to co-exist alongside each other for many years to come, much the same way home video was supposed to kill off live TV and cinema's all those years ago.

Do you use eBooks? Do you like them? Or are you unwilling to shell out the cost for a device capable of reading eBooks just yet (they are truly quite expensive at this point in time)?

What do you think?

I don't think it'd be the death. I work at a Book store and haven't had many people buying these eBook readers. A lot of people really still prefer the feel of a paperback to an electronic device when reading their books. I certainly do.

I like books.

Imagine a world where all anyone relies upon is digital media. It's all electronically stored, organised and retrieved. And then something happens, a virus or something. Everything is gone, wiped, deleted. Everything.

And that is why books are good.

Totally agree with Wo here. eBooks are an ideal solution for schools, easy to access latest up to date stuff and definitely the weight thing.

Old farts like though cannot think of anything better than reading my book in a place I've carefully prepared.

Can you imagine studying the assassination of John F. Kennedy and rather than just seeing a static image of the shooting you can actually click on direct link to the Zapruder film. The ideas are endless...

the only thing about teaching children to learn on e-books is that the value of the printed word that we all accept might not mean anything to them after enough decades.

I think that the only real future for eBooks is school. If you can get all of your textbooks onto a small, lightweight device, it'll be godly.

Real books will always be around, and I will always read them.

I just won't be the same.

See, if I go into a library or bookstore, I see tons and tons of books that I want to read. Just looking at them gives me the urge to just grab them and start engrossing myself in the story. I don't get the same feeling with eBooks.